Big first half helps Women's Basketball capture opener

IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's basketball team (1-0) earned its first victory of the 2014-15 campaign with a 71-51 decision against Elmira College (0-2) on Friday night.

A huge first half propelled the Lady Crusaders to a 19 point advantage at the break, and would be enough to claim the home-opener.

EC would nip at the deficit in the early part of the second frame. Jessica Brooks made a three-pointer to spark a 12-0 run and eventually cut things to 44-36 with 15:46 remaining. The navy and white countered the momentum and regained control eventually pushing its edge close to 20 with just under seven minutes in the contest.

Both squads went through a dry shooting spell prior to the Dallas scoring stretch, with neither earning a point from the 11:45 mark left to the 9:16 spot in the affair.

Senior Brooke Hagemann (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and freshman Michelle DeCoud (Monument, Colo.) paced a quartet of double-digit scorers from UD on the evening with 14 points each. Senior Marleyna Bustamante (Donna, Texas) was right behind with 13, and sophomore Lindsey Gendron (Houston, Texas) added 10 - notably all in the first half.

Sophomore Holly Tonry (Seattle, Wash.) chipped in seven points and swiped five steals, while freshman Jessica Foster (Oklahoma City, Okla.) pulled down eight rebounds. Dallas held a 36-27 edge on the boards and forced 24 turnovers compared to giving the ball away 16.

The Lady Crusaders outshot Elmira 46 percent to 38 percent in the triumph.

Brooks led the Soaring Eagles with 12 points and Danielle Clearly contributed 11. Meghan Loya grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Next Opponent:

Dallas plays the second game of the hosted Tip-Off Classic tomorrow versus University of the Ozarks. First tip is slated at 3 p.m.